Try Too Hard
by Rainbow Haired Girl
Summary: Set before Criminal Minds. Jason Gideon's daughter tries to call him when she is living with her mother in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but the call goes to voice mail and the most chilling message is left on Gideon's phone. Now it is a rush against time to save his daughter's life. Reid/OC


Try Too Hard

Rainbow Haired Girl

Summary: Set before Criminal Minds. Jason Gideon's daughter tries to call him when she is living with her mother in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but the call goes to voice mail and the most chilling message is left on Gideon's phone. Now it is a rush against time to save his daughter's life.

Disclaimer: I only own Joleigh Gideon. I don't own Criminal Minds. I do own season 1 of the series that's it.

Chapter 1

Missing

_Fathers are still considered the most important 'doers' in our culture, and in most families they are that. Girls see them as the family authorities on careers, and so fathers' encouragement and counsel is important to them. When fathers don't take their daughters' achievements and plans seriously, girls sometimes have trouble taking themselves seriously. - Stella Chess_

Joleigh was going on a walk in her home of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Sure she had watched the news and saw the missing people that were on the wall many of the girls were her age that had gone missing. She mostly assumed that they were just runaways. Her raven colored hair was wavy and tucked behind her pierced ears Her hazel colored eyes were covered by a pair of black sunglasses. It was a Saturday afternoon and being 18-years-old she was going to be going back to school on Monday and would be close to graduating. She wore a pink tank top that showed some of her abdomen, a pair of dark wash bell bottom blue jean pants that were hip huggers, and a pair of pink high heels that matched her top. She wore a blue jean jacket over top of it since the weather was slightly cooler in May than it was in June.

Three more weeks until she was out of high school for good. She was going to be going and looking at colleges and see if she could get her schooling in somewhere close to where her father was. She hadn't seen him in two years and he was probably very busy with the FBI. She was heading to the coffee shop to get a nice hot cup of coffee before heading to a potential school.

She pulled out her cell phone and dialed her father's number. She didn't even hear someone walking behind her. The street that she was on wasn't very often traveled, but she liked traveling on this road. She let out a sigh when the phone went to voice mail. "Hey dad... it's Joleigh... I guess you're busy on another case or something..." She felt someone grab onto her. "Hey watch it... hey what are you doing? Let me go!" Thunk! Her world went black.

X * X * X * X * X * X

_Quantico, Virginia_

Jason Gideon was walking down the hall. He had a long day at work and didn't know that his daughter had left him a message on his office phone. His cell phone began to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw that it was his ex-wife calling him. He let out a sigh and answered it. "Hello Barbra..." He said into the phone tiredly.

"_Jason did Joleigh try to call you?"_

"As far as I know she hasn't..."

"_Jason it's six pm and she told me that she would be back home by then."_

"Where did she go?"

"_She was going to go and look at a college since she graduates in three weeks. She told me that she would be back home by five thirty... She hasn't come back yet. I'm worried."_

"Alright I will check to see if she called." He told his ex-wife. "I'll call you when I figure out where she is."

"_Thank you Jason..."_

With that being said he had hung up his cell phone. He was about to walk to his office when Rob came running up to him with a stack of files.

"Agent Gideon... we got a case in Pittsburgh..." Rob said, slightly out of breath.

"I'll meet in the conference room in a minute. I got to go and see if my daughter called my phone." He told Rob.

Rob nodded his head. "Yes, sir."

Jason went into his office fairly quickly and noticed one missed call. He hit play on the answering machine.

"_Hey dad..._ _it's Joleigh... I guess you're busy on another case or something...Hey watch it... hey what are you doing? Let me go!" _

His face paled. He had heard the thunk of someone hitting his daughter. He rushed out of the room and to the conference room. He saw Reid, Morgan, and Hotchner waiting for him. He took one of the files and began reading the file.

"There was also a tape found." Rob said pulling out the tape. "Who ever sent it made sure that it got on our doorstep at six." He put the tape into the VCR.

"Who was the last girl that disappeared?" Hotchner asked, looking up at Rob.

"All of the girls fit a profile. Long raven colored hair, hazel eyes, 5'8, thin, and have curves in the right places. The last girl is Joleigh..."

Gideon's eyes shot up to Rob. "Play the tape."

Rob hit play.

His eyes widened when he saw that his daughter was on the screen. She was knocked out cold. He almost thought that his daughter was dead by the way that she looked. There was a blood splatter mark on the side of her head where she must've been hit.

"_Agent Gideon. I am sure you know who I have. You think that you can save everyone. Do you think that you can save your own daughter? You have a week before you will find her on the banks of the Allegheny River." _

The tape cut off.

Hotchner looked at Gideon. "Will you be able to handle this Gideon... this is your daughter after all."

Gideon looked at Hotchner. "I'll be fine." He stated. "Let's just rescue my daughter."

"How old is your daughter Gideon?" Morgan asked, since they needed to know how old Joleigh was.

"She's eighteen years old. She'll be graduating high school in three weeks."

X * X * X * X * X * X

_Somewhere in Pittsburgh, PA_

Joleigh slowly opened her eyes hearing the unsub talking. He was reciting a poem. She put her hand on the side of her head wincing in pain. She removed her hand feeling the warm sticky mess that was on the side of her head.

"Ah, broken is the golden bowl! The spirit flown forever! Let the bell toll! - a saintly soul floats on the Stygian river; And, Guy De Vere, hast thou no tear? - weep now or never more! See on yon drear and rigid bier low lies thy love, Lenore! Come!"

She ended up passing out once again the only thought that her father would be coming soon. She could only hope.

X * X * X * X * X * X

"Don't worry Gideon we'll get her back alive." Hotchner told Gideon.

"I hope you're right Hotch. I can't lose my only daughter." He told Hotch. He really didn't want to lose his own daughter. It was already bad enough that he missed most of her teen years. He had gotten pictures of his daughter of when she was doing beauty pageants and fashion shows. She had a name now and was slightly famous. She was more famous in the Pittsburgh area and if she wanted to continue on she could.

He pulled out the photo album that she had sent him a few weeks ago. She had wrote him a letter telling him that he could keep it. It was the best way to follow what she went through. He slowly opened it and began to look through the photos that she had sent him. Some were from the pageants that she was in and fashion shows. Among them were pictures of her when she was in school in her normal clothes.

He smiled when he saw the pictures knowing that she looked happy in those photos, but she truly wasn't 100% happy. He knew that just by looking at her eyes. They were sad because he wasn't there. He felt someone sit down next to him. He looked out of the corner of his eyes and saw Reid sitting there.

"So this is your daughter?" He asked, shyly trying not to look at the pictures of the young female Gideon.

"Yeah this her." Gideon said with a sigh. "I missed so much with her... I swore to myself that I wouldn't miss any more in her life and I failed to do that." He ran his hands over his face.

"You didn't fail Gideon. She knows that you'll be coming to find her." Reid said, softly as his eyes looked at the photos of Joleigh.

Gideon let out a sigh. "I hope you're right. She's the only daughter that I have..."

Spencer began to profile the picture that he saw of Joleigh. He took note that she had hazel eyes. He would have to wait until he got to see her in person what color her eyes truly were. Her hair was raven in color and had wave to it. He guessed it was natural. He also took not that in most of the photos she wore fashionable clothes which made him realize that she was into fashion shows and pageants. Maybe he was over analyzing the photo that was shown. He saw another one that she had normal clothes on nothing that looked like it was from the runway or a pageant shot.

X * X * X * X * X * X

Joleigh felt the guy that kidnapped her slap her across the face waking her up instantly. She moaned out in pain.

"You're daddy is probably coming for you. Too bad he won't figure it out until it is too late." The kidnapper said, smirking at her.

She tried to kick at him.

"Ah ah ah. I wouldn't do that if I were you." He said, aiming a gun at her.

Joleigh backed up into the wall whimpering lightly.

"He'll be late and he'll never see you again. Too bad that it has to happen to such a pretty girl." He said laughing.

Joleigh whimpered. _"Dad please hurry up." _She thought to herself. She knew that she was in a lot of trouble. She knew that girls like her had gone missing now. She then realized that the girls that had gone missing were never found. If they were found they were dead. Just like she was going to be if she wasn't found anytime soon.

She was panicking, but knew that her father would be well on his way. She could only hope that her father would make it in time to save her. She just hoped that this guy wouldn't beat her to death.

X * X * X * X * X * X

Gideon, Reid, Hotchner, and Morgan got off of the plane.

"What's the course of action?" Asked Morgan.

"First of all we need to talk to your ex-wife Gideon and see if there is anyway that someone would want to be after your daughter." Hotchner said, his tone unwavering.

Gideon nodded his head. "I can take you to her home." He stated. He knew that it was going to be hard to see his ex-wife again. He was afraid what she was going to say.

X * X * X * X * X * X

"Barbra this is Agents Aaron Hotchner, Derek Morgan, and Dr. Spencer Reid." Gideon said introducing his ex-wife to his crew.

Barbra looked at the four men that stood in her kitchen. "Can I get you four anything?" She asked softly, her green eyes were red and puffy from crying. She was worried about her only daughter and her son was out somewhere making good of his own job.

The four of them shook their heads.

"Mrs. Gideon..." Hotchner started to say.

"It's Oakley." Barbra said, cutting Hotchner off. Her voice was fairly harsh letting him know that he had made a mistake and she didn't take none too kindly to it.

"Ms. Oakley what did your daughter do in her spare time?" Hotchner said, using the correct last name this time.

"She does many things. She is an overachiever." Barbra said, as she shakily poured herself a cup of coffee. "She does fashion shows, photo shoots, pageants." Barbra carefully picked up her coffee cup and tried to steady her hand as she tried to sip the bitter dark drink. "She is also a wonderful violinist, singer, and dancer, but she also has a thing for numbers and being able to figure puzzles out... as I said she's an overachiever."

"Would your daughter have any enemies?" asked Reid curiously.

Barbra shook her head. "No, she was kind to everyone. I don't know who would want to take my daughter, but who ever it was had to be nuts to do so. Joleigh is a fighter. She won't go down with out a fight."

Gideon looked at his ex-wife. "I know she wouldn't go without a fight. I am the one that taught some of her moves so she would at least be protected. But I think she was hit in the head. She had called me before the line went dead."

Barbra tried not to cry. "I just want our daughter back!" She told him.

"You'll have her back. We will find her. I promise you."

"You better hope you find her. I'll never forgive you if she dies." She hissed at Gideon. "She is our only daughter..."

"Barbra I know it." Gideon told her. "We will find her and make sure that she is safe and sound."

X * X * X * X * X * X

That is the end of chapter 1. Tell me what you think.


End file.
